We had high hopes for the OVI, but we were sorry we picked it once we got there. We were going to spend one night there on the tail end of our road trip from Boston to Hopewell Rocks, New Brunswick, and back. I spoke with the innkeeper a few times on the phone prior to our arrival and it sounded like it would be a fun place to stay. We were enjoying our road trip so much that we cancelled our last night which would have been in Boston, and called the OVI about staying there two nights instead of one. They gave us a great rate for the second night, so we were stoked to be able to stay on the coastline of Maine another night.
We had been driving a few hours and were excited to arrive, check in, and head to the bar for a cold beer. There was no immediately obvious place to check in so we went straight to the bar. The bar is tiny and seats maybe 8 people, I'm guessing, and we sat right in front of the area where the bartender was making drinks. He completely ignored us. The restaurant was busy and he was quickly making, as well as delivering drinks. Once when he came back he chatted up the couple eating right next to us at the end of the bar. Still nothing. We had been sitting there for 6 or 7 minutes when he finally glanced over at us and said "How ya doing?" and we said "Great" and he went on about his business. Another minute or two passed, and we got up and left. No acknowledgment whatsoever. It was really kind of bizarre.
We figured out that the tiny desk in the little room next to the bar was the registration area. A couple of waiters strolled over and asked us if we were being helped and eventually Joey acted interested and got us checked in. He took up upstairs to the third floor (no elevator, but there is a landing between the two 15 step, narrow stairways), to show us our room. Joey even came out to the car to help us with our bags, at which point we asked him what was up with the bartender. Joey offered many excuses for the rude behavior and was so pleasant and accommodating that we decided to give the place a chance.
Before we settled in we decided to go across the street to Maxwell's. The OVI bartender could take a lesson from Mike the bartender at Maxwell's! It is a much larger bar and Mike greeted us with seconds of our arrival. If you looked up "great bartender" in the dictionary, there would be a picture of Mike. He had a great personality, took great care of us, and we ended up staying there for a very delicious dinner. I would highly recommend Maxwell's. I can't speak to the food at the OVI because we never ate there.
After dinner and walking around the town a bit, we headed back to our room. We were underwhelmed to say the least. There is a difference between charming and worn down. There are photos of Room 6 on the OVI website, but they are deceiving. The toilet is in a closet in the hallway and the door does not close. The shower and sink are in the bedroom. The bedside table IS the sink. The view from the bed is the shower and sink. The towel rack is on the bedroom door, which also does not close, and is nowhere near the sink or shower. I used the hair dryer as the towel rack and it served the purpose well. The TV is in the sitting room which is next to the bedroom. There is a window unit AC in the bedroom and a standing floor unit AC in the sitting room, both of which work fine. The upholstered chair in the sitting room has filthy arms and the whole thing needs to be reupholstered. In fact the entire unit needs updating, floors need leveling, fresh wall paper or paint, new window treatments, some fresh art work on the walls, and replace the indoor-outdoor carpeting with something nicer.
I will say that the back porch affords a nice view of the beach area. The hotel is centrally located so it is easy to walk most of the places you want to go, and the trolley is readily available. Ogunquit is amazing, the Old Village Inn is not.